South braced for more heavy rain after flood alerts issued

The South is braced for more heavy rain and localised flooding this weekend,
with many popular holiday destinations at risk just as families take to the
roads for the first week of the school holidays.

Forecasters predicted 30-50mm of rain could fall in just three-six hours on Saturday afternoonPhoto: Getty Images

"Most of the UK will be fine and dry to start but increasing amounts of cloud will build up in the South East," he said.

"Some very heavy rain will come in during the afternoon in South East England and central England. That risk will run into Wales and the Midlands by the evening.

"By Sunday morning, the rain will push northwards into Northern England and Scotland."

Rachel Vince, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said the South East of England and East Anglia would be worst hit by torrential downpours, with popular holiday destinations in the South West also at risk.

"On Saturday, pretty much the whole country will have a fine start with spells of sunshine," she said.

"But, after a pleasant morning, thunderstorms moving in from the Continent will affect south-east England and the Midlands by mid-afternoon. We could see a repeat of the thunder and lightning seen recently.

"By Sunday, the south-east corner of England is at risk of torrential downpours and localised flooding. The South West is also in that risk of thunderstorms."

Temperatures will remain warm for most of the country, however, with highs of 24C (75.2F) to 26C (78.8F) in central and eastern England and 21C (69.8F) to 23C (73.4F) in western and northern parts of Britain, Ms Vince said.

The Met Office said: "The public should be aware of the risk of localised disruption to travel due to surface water flooding.

"The start time of this [rain] warning has been brought forward to cater for the risk of localised disruption associated with the heavy overnight rain moving north across parts of Northern Ireland, north-west England and south-west Scotland."